Let There Be Light: The Year of James Turrell

June 21, 2013

By Matthew Powell

James Turrell, rendering of installation for the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, 2012, artificial and natural light. Image by Andreas Tjeldflaat.

James Turrell, the renowned artist and manipulator of light, has launched his first solo exhibition in a New York museum since 1980, taking over the rotunda of the
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum
. The iconic space by Frank Lloyd Wright is transformed into
Aten Reign
, a
Skyspace
of colored natural and artificial light. The mixture of daylight and LEDs not only makes visitors to look up, the shifting display mesmerizes them.

In addition to the atrium installation, a selection of Turrell’s early work is on display including
Afrum I (White)
, a glowing cube floating in the corner of a room, and
Ronin
, a narrow strip of light sequestered in a dark room. The Guggenheim exhibition is just one part of what very well may be the Year of Turrell. Both the
Los Angeles County Museum of Art
and the
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
are simultaneously presenting the artist’s work, making for a bi-coastal retrospective in three parts. A public dramatic site-specific light installation at
The Shops at Crystals in Las Vegas
will also debut this month.

The Guggenheim will show “James Turrell” from June 21 to September 25.

James Turrell’s Ronin, 1968, fluorescent light, Collection of the artist. Photo courtesy of the Stedelijk Museum.